Laura Alderman, executive director of the Community Foundation-funded “Step Forward” organization, said this “30 million word gap” also significantly lowers success rates for children later in life.

“There are two things we consider kryptonite for babies, and those two things are silence and trauma,” Alderman said. “If we focus on these early ages, what can happen in our communities is limitless.”

A study from the American Academy of Pediatrics reported that the most connections between neurons are made in the first two and a half years of a child’s life. More than 90 percent of a child’s brain development happens before age 5, according to the Harvard Center on the Developing Child.

“The pivotal part of the 30-million word gap is that it takes place before students enter our schools,” said Caddo Parish School Superintendent Lamar Goree. “Today, in Louisiana we know that over 50 percent of students come to kindergarten not prepared for the demands of the classroom.”

But Goree added that Caddo Parish School District has become a pilot program in a statewide shift to address the gap. Caddo Smart Start, which will launch in 2017, seeks to bring together early childhood facilities across the parish to make families aware of resources.

Elizabeth Enochs, of the Step Forward Program, holds a poster showing 90 percent of a child's brain develops before age 5.(Photo: Lex Talamo)

A partnership with Step Forward, an organization founded by the Community Foundation, also incorporates literacy volunteers within the school system.

“Caddo and the state of Louisiana are making sizable moves to address the needs of our youngest children, but we also know more must be done,” Goree said.

Educating parents about what they can do to help their children, whether that’s reading to children on a daily basis or not fighting in front of them, will be a major focus for the school system, the juvenile justice system and community child advocates.

“The key is to educate parents about what they can do to better the outcomes for their children,” said Dr. Joseph Bocchini, chairman of the Department of Pediatrics for LSU Health. “We now have this information. We have to act on it, because we have a lot of at-risk children in our community.”

Alderman believes the Shreveport-Bossier community will be up to the challenge.

“What we believe is unique about this community is if you give people something to latch onto, they want to go to work,” Alderman said. “There’s momentum in this community to change those numbers.”